Dayton.
Dayton, the county seat of Lyon County, lies five miles below Silver City, on the Carson River, at the mouth of Gold Canyon. The beginning of this town was a log building, erected as a dwelling and trading-post by John McMarlin, in the fall of 1849. Being on the overland wagon road passing over the Sierras by the Placerville route, there was a good deal of trade with incoming immigrants, as well as with the miners, who soon began to earn from $8.00 to $12 a day in the gravel bank and bars of Gold Canyon. In 1856, about fifty Chinamen came over the mountains and began mining on the lower part of the canyon, working over the banks and bars left by the white miners. In 1858, nearly 200 Chinamen were at work in the canyon from its mouth up toward Johntown. These had their shanties about McMarlin’s store, and the place took the name of “Chinatown,” by which name it was known at the time of the discovery of silver.
In 1861 an attempt was made (many whites having then settled there) to give the place the name of “Nevada City.” This did not take, as there was already a Nevada City in California, and for a time the town was called “Mineral Rapids,” but this finally gave way to the present name of Dayton. The place grew apace, it being then expected that nearly all the ore of the Comstock would be worked at and near the town in mills driven by water-power. This hope was not realized, though several fine mills were built near the town. It had in 1878 a population of about 1,200, and has since held its own very well. Though not a very large town, it has always been a very pleasant and flourishing one.
The Carson and Colorado Railroad passes through the town, and from this a branch built in 1888 extends down the river to the Rock Point Mill. Here (at Dayton) is to be the scene of the operations of the Carson River Dredging Company, an Eastern incorporation headed by Dr. J. H. Rae. The object is to pump up from the bottom of the Carson River the millions in gold and silver, amalgam, and quicksilver, washed into the river and lost with the tailings running from the many mills. No doubt the “millions” found their way into the river, but whether they can be brought out of its bottom by means of a big suction pump remains to be seen. It is the universal wish that the dredger may prove a success. All will be in readiness to try it this season on a large scale.
Dayton contains good public buildings of all kinds required, both county and town, has several mills, and many handsome private residences, surrounded with gardens and fruit and shade trees. In summer the place is completely embowered.
The acid works of J. M. Douglass & Co. manufacture daily two tons of sulphuric acid. The sulphur used is a native product of Nevada, and is brought from the mine in Humboldt County at a cost of $40 a ton. Dayton is surrounded with a fine agricultural and grazing region. A narrow-gauge railroad five miles long runs down the river from the Douglass Mill to a large tailings reservoir.